Park Place Cinemas
319 W. Milwaukee Street,
Janesville,
WI
53548
319 W. Milwaukee Street,
Janesville,
WI
53548
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated Prudential Theaters Inc., Fox Circuit, Rogers Cinemas, Saxe Amusement Enterprises, Skouras Theatres, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Architects: Martin S. Tullgren
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Jeffris Theatre, Ormson Cinemas 1-2, UA Movies at Janesville
Nearby Theaters
The Jeffris Theatre was opened by Saxe Amusements in 1924. It was damaged by fire on March 27, 1983. On September 2, 1983 it reopened as Ormson Cinemas 1 & 2. On May 23, 1986 it was taken over by United Artists and was renamed UA Movies at Janesville. It closed in 1989.
On October 11, 1991 it reopened as the 3-screen Park Place Cinemas. Two more screen were opened upstairs on November 22, 1991. It was closed in 1998
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
To clarify something above, Rogers Cinema Circuit of Marshfield, Wisconsin bought the theater (not Marshall Field). Also Skouris Theatre Corporation bought the Jeffris in July of 1968 and operated under the United Artists Theatre Circuit. It started with Saxe Theatres so was Saxe’s Jeffris. Then Saxe was sold to Fox-Wisconsin Theatres becoming the Fox Jeffris. The Fox circuit was broken up as part of the Paramount consent decree and Associated Prudential Theaters Inc. Circuit of New York took on the theater advertising it as Johnny Prudential Theaters until being sold to Skouris.
Plans for the Saxe Bros. house that became the Jeffris Theatre were in the works as early as April, 1922, when the project was reported in various construction trade journals. Later, both Saxe Bros. and the architects, Martin Tullgren & Sons, were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed as a result of the partial collapse of the building during construction in 1923.
The theatre that refused to die. After the fire of 1966, the theatre opened much sooner than 1983. It was open all during the 70s as seen by the Moonraker film marquee. I saw quite a few films there including Grease in 1978. Three of the pics were taken by me in the Fall of 2015 and the theatre is still standing. The hotel that was mentioned has been vacant for decades so it does not need any parking. Good thing. The theater although gutted still remains.
The theater’s entrance building remains, but as can be seen in Google’s satellite view the original auditorium has been demolished. Its footprint was quite large, extending most of the way to Dodge Street, and can be seen in historic aerial photos. In one of Allan’s 2015 photos the top of a piece of heavy equipment can be seen beyond a wall. That piece of equipment was sitting where part of the auditorium had been.
Forgot the link to Historic Aerials. And now that I think of it, the brick wall over which the piece of equipment can be seen probably is what’s left of the old auditorium wall. The auditorium was wider than the entrance building. The wall was apparently cut down and capped.
1955 photo added courtesy Steve Betz.
Vacant lot as of July 2018.
This opened as the Jeffries theatre on October 4th, 1924. Grand opening ad posted. More to come.
Burns down on March 27th, 1983.
Article:
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
More info: Reopened as Ormson Cinemas 1 & 2 on September 2nd, 1983 and taken over by United Artists on May 23rd, 1986, and renamed UA Movies at Janesville and closed in 1989. It reopened as the Park Place Cinemas with 3 screens on October 11th, 1991 and two more screens opened upstairs on November 22nd, 1991, and closed in 1998. Grand opening ads posted.